5 Best and WORST Registrars after using 25+ Registrars over last 15 years

[william]

I've used more than 25 different registrars over the last 15 year of domaining. I'll share what have been the best registrars in my opinion - based on their ease of use, customer support (or lack of needing to ever use it), price, bulk domain management, fast-transfer, and other factors that make a great registrar great.

Here are the top 5 registrars that I recommend, in order:

1. Dynadot.com - Fantastic all around experience. Competitive pricing, easy interface, easy opt-ins for fast transfer, and great support.
2. Sav.com - Competitive pricing, great interface, and I have not had one instance of having to contact customer support about anything. Others report issues with customer support, but I cannot comment on it. In my opinion, a great registrar should prevent you from ever needing to contact support, and Sav does that.
3. Namesilo.com - A bit outdated, but straightforward registrar, great pricing, with great support.
4. NameCheap.com
5. Porkbun.com

Registrars that have wasted the most of my time, money, and caused the most stress:

1. GoDaddy.com
2. NetworkSolutions.com
3. Z.com
4. Epik.com
5. HostGator.com

If you can, avoid all of these and save yourself countless hours and a lot of stress.

 

[Peter45]

4. NameCheap.com

Thanks for sharing William,

with NC you cannot bulk-set and -change the price of your domains in the aftermarket.

You have to go one by one: click on Manage... click on Edit... click on Delist... insert the password... confirm Delist... and now... click on List on sale... put the price in the box... choose the Duration... click No adult... click Send me Email when sold... click Enlist...
... and now ... up to the next domain...

And the max duration is 90 days, so you have to repeat this procedure each 3 months.

Wasn't that an issue for you?

 

[Samer]

Amazing, impeccable list.
You nailed my top-3: Dynadot, NameSilo, Porkbun.
if remove Sav (too new) and NC. (Not Cheap if few DNs)
Nice write-up, @william! Great stuff, mate.

 

[Samer]

You also nailed the bad registrars, @william!
The only 1 i have no expedience with is Z.

Thanks for sharing, again!

 

[tonyk2000]

I agree with @Samer .

Namecheap: terminates services based on alleged customers race [determined by name] , not account address/country or the citizenship. Here is how they terminated service for at least two US citizens and residents with Slavic names. More evidence of similar behavior in a long ycombinator thread. If it is not racism, what is it?

https://www.reddit.com/r/NameCheap/comments/t3tv00

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30504812

Sav: too young, too many bugs reported...

Namesilo, Dynadot and Porkbun is exactly my preferred list.

 

[william]

Thanks for sharing William,

with NC you cannot bulk-set and -change the price of your domains in the aftermarket.

You have to go one by one: click on Manage... click on Edit... click on Delist... insert the password... confirm Delist... and now... click on List on sale... put the price in the box... choose the Duration... click No adult... click Send me Email when sold... click Enlist...
... and now ... up to the next domain...

And the max duration is 90 days, so you have to repeat this procedure each 3 months.

Wasn't that an issue for you?

I have not used their platform for aftermarket, so I can't comment on it. It's just my own personal experience with these registrars. But everything else was relatively straightforward. Most importantly I did not waste a lot of time solving issues unnecessarily.

 

[Leo_winner]

I've used more than 25 different registrars over the last 15 year of domaining. I'll share what have been the best registrars in my opinion - based on their ease of use, customer support (or lack of needing to ever use it), price, bulk domain management, fast-transfer, and other factors that make a great registrar great.

Here are the top 5 registrars that I recommend, in order:

1. Dynadot.com - Fantastic all around experience. Competitive pricing, easy interface, easy opt-ins for fast transfer, and great support.
2. Sav.com - Competitive pricing, great interface, and I have not had one instance of having to contact customer support about anything. Others report issues with customer support, but I cannot comment on it. In my opinion, a great registrar should prevent you from ever needing to contact support, and Sav does that.
3. Namesilo.com - A bit outdated, but straightforward registrar, great pricing, with great support.
4. NameCheap.com
5. Porkbun.com

Registrars that have wasted the most of my time, money, and caused the most stress:

1. GoDaddy.com
2. NetworkSolutions.com
3. Z.com
4. Epik.com
5. HostGator.com

If you can, avoid all of these and save yourself countless hours and a lot of stress.

SAV is worst. They are not following ICANN policy of sending expiration as well as whois reminder email like other Registrar. I have lost 2 domains due to their pathetic service. I am moving out all my names from SAV.

 

[william]

HostGator is denying me the transfer and unlocking and ANY management of expired domain names. Against ICANN rules but they do it every single time. I have to get it escalate it and only then they magically let me unlock it or transfer it.

 

[william]

If anyone is experiencing the same with HostGator or any other registrar, please submit a complaint to ICANN for violating the transfer policy. It's very easy:

https://icann-nsp.my.site.com/compliance/s/transfer

 

[equity78]

I agree with @Samer .

Namecheap: terminates services based on alleged customers race [determined by name] , not account address/country or the citizenship. Here is how they terminated service for at least two US citizens and residents with Slavic names. More evidence of similar behavior in a long ycombinator thread. If it is not racism, what is it?

https://www.reddit.com/r/NameCheap/comments/t3tv00

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30504812

Sav: too young, too many bugs reported...

Namesilo, Dynadot and Porkbun is exactly my preferred list.

That's crazy, thank you for posting.

 

[william]

Here's a timeline of trying to get an auth code from HostGator for an expired name.

1) Contact chat support. Tells you YOU CANNOT transfer domain name that's expired. Need to renew.
2) Escalated to "admins".
3) Admins/support reaches out by e-mails says "are you sure you want to transfer"?
4) Support says "woah, hold on there, these names are expired. They have to be renewed."
5) Back to square one.

Absolutely horrible time-wasting company with no knowledge of the rules or willingness to comply to regulations.

Stay away from HostGator at all costs.

 

[Inframan]

I've used more than 25 different registrars over the last 15 year of domaining. I'll share what have been the best registrars in my opinion - based on their ease of use, customer support (or lack of needing to ever use it), price, bulk domain management, fast-transfer, and other factors that make a great registrar great.

Here are the top 5 registrars that I recommend, in order:

1. Dynadot.com - Fantastic all around experience. Competitive pricing, easy interface, easy opt-ins for fast transfer, and great support.
2. Sav.com - Competitive pricing, great interface, and I have not had one instance of having to contact customer support about anything. Others report issues with customer support, but I cannot comment on it. In my opinion, a great registrar should prevent you from ever needing to contact support, and Sav does that.
3. Namesilo.com - A bit outdated, but straightforward registrar, great pricing, with great support.
4. NameCheap.com
5. Porkbun.com

Registrars that have wasted the most of my time, money, and caused the most stress:

1. GoDaddy.com
2. NetworkSolutions.com
3. Z.com
4. Epik.com
5. HostGator.com

If you can, avoid all of these and save yourself countless hours and a lot of stress.

Porkbun- has an intuitive user interface that's beginner friendly. Marketplace is severely lacking.

Namesilo- has a lot of web development tools, lots of upsells, not beginner friendly. Two different marketplaces one you pay to list per domain another you can list for free. Currently undecided on how accessible the marketplace is.

GoDaddy- unintuitive. Constantly have to go to the homepage to go to the pay to list marketplace. The only real plus is the free appraisal. Have not registered any domains.

Afternic- depending on whether you use the beta or classic version determines how intuitive the user experience is. Marketplace doesn't have readily available metrics to gauge domain views. Have not registered any domains.

Sedo- feature rich marketplace. Have not registered any domains.

Domain- minimum interface, almost beginner friendly like Porkbun, lots of upsells, constantly adds (allegedly free TLDs to cart). Domain security lacking. Two different attempts to transfer domains out of my portfolio. Issue resolved. No domain security issues with Porkbun or Namesilo.

If Sedo's marketplace becomes lucrative, I might transfer most my domains to Sedo.